Fifteen Minutes Late with Starbucks and a Hand to Hold
by Jade-Harley-meets-Finland
Summary: A barista at Starbucks named Karkat gets a crush on one of his customers. Karkat x OC. Fluff. Rated T for safety. For and is about missfr34k because she's a cool cat.


It was a busy day at Starbucks, but then, it always was. There were many people that swept through, ranging from the overly polite and apologetic to the rude-ass clowns that littered the city. Of course, this mix is to be expected. You learn about the conglomerate of people from fellow baristas of the same establishment. Namely one of you good friends, Jade. She knew that if you weren't prepared to the stupidity that seeped in and out of the shop, you could lose your job in an instant, with the blame on one of the assholes that expect everything handed to them on a silver fucking plate. You wish you could shove some things down their food chute while you're at it.

There was a break in the mostly uneventful rush of the morning. Around this time, 10:30 am, people would stop showing up to this particular Starbucks, save a person here or there, until noon. Thank Jebus for this. You don't know if you could handle eight full hours of of stupidity. You decide to look at your e-mails on your phone while you waited for a customer.

"Karkat!" sang an annoying, but not unwelcome voice. "You know you're not supposed to be on your phone at woo-oork."

"I know, Jade, but there's nothing to do. Might as well." You said this all in a boring manner, because you are bored, and not because you are boring. You sure as hell aren't boring. If anyone tries to start an argument with you, you'll yell at them, counting the ways that they are wrong, even if it is you that is wrong. This makes you an easy target in your group of friends, but you don't mind this. You find arguments to be fun.

Jade snatched your phone away from you, and you show her your best pissed-off face, but it doesn't work. That face never works on your friends. She fumbles a bit, pretending like she's going to drop the phone. You say in a voice that she could hear, but not any of the customers, "Don't you fucking dare. Hand over the phone now, fuckass." Again, you tried to bring up as much of your anger as you could, but it didn't work, because you cracked a smile, which was a bit out of character for you, but not entirely unexpected, especially with this friend. A giggle erupted from her voice box. You rushed up to her, making it impossible for her to escape the corner you trapped her in. Unfortunately, she had a height advantage, and she stood on her tippy toes to avoid your grasp. "Give it back, you asshat!" You grunted this, and she shook her head, giggling up a literal storm inside of you. Suddenly, there was a ring that signified there was a customer at the door. You snatch the phone away from Jade, giving her a smirk, and putting the phone in your pocket. You go to your station, prepared for the worst.

Of course, this is not what you get. What you get is someone completely unexpected. This girl could be no more than sixteen, which was the age that you were, incidentally. Funny how some things just happen to work this way. She has medium length deep red hair with black tips at the end, which suited her very well, considering what else she was wearing, and her pale complexion. She had jeans that had skulls on it that had one leg with black skulls over a white background and the other with white skulls over a black background. She was wearing a dress shirt that was partially unbuttoned, and the sleeves rolled up to her elbow with a black camisole underneath. Back to her face. Like mentioned earlier, she had a pale face, her lips marked with a deep red lipstick that matched her hair. She looked absolutely beautiful, and you hope that her personality follows suit.

Jade notices this and snickers softly. She grabs your attention, before you have a chance to attend to the lovely girl. She mouths "Good luck!" You take a deep breath in, and let it out. "Hello, what would you like?" You ask her, holding back the waver in your voice just barely.

"May I have a venti iced mocha with whipped cream?" The girl asked in a sweet voice. God you love that voice.

"Yes. Of course." You pick up a cup and scribble notes for Jade to follow, even though she is intently paying attention to the conversation, if you could call it that. "What's your name, dear?" Oops.

"Kayla." She smiles, and you love this smile. It's the most beautiful thing you seen.

You scribble her glorious name down, as well as your phone number. You do this without thinking, so your face gets tinged with a bit of pink. You hand the cup to Jade, who smirks as she sees the scrawled digits that she recognizes. She goes about making the drink, though it seems as though she's making it extra slowly. You look up and observe the girl, _Kayla_, as she is named. You decide to take a chance and start talking to her. "So, Kayla... You're pretty new around here I gather. You just move into town?"

"Yes. That's a very good guess... Karkat." She read off of your name tag. "And it's true! I moved here recently."

"So, do you have any friends?" You instantly regret this. You made yourself sound like a snollygoster, whatever that is... Damn Jake English and his strange way of speaking.

"Not many around here, no." She looks a bit sad when she says this and you silently kick yourself.

"Do you want to make one?" You ask, hoping for a positive response.

"Sure, do you know anyone who wants to get a new friend?" She has a bit of sass that you, like. You may have just met her, but you are 98.75% sure that you have a major crush on her.

"Ahem," Jade interrupts. "Kayla, here is your drink." The girl goes to get her drink, and of course you glare at Jade. _Why does she have to be such a fuckass sometimes?_

You keep on glaring until you realize Kayla was standing behind the counter in front of you. You begin to blush. "Soooo... Do you, by chance want to be friends?"

"Hmmm." Kayla stops, pretending to give her answer thought. "Well, I have a question for you, first, before I answer that." You nod. "Do you know whose number this is?" She shows you the cup that had your number scrawled across it. You blush and shrug. "Well. If it was _your _number, I might consider being your friend. But if it's not yooouuurr number, I'll just be friends with this person instead."

"It's my number, I swear!" You say quickly. You realized that she probably would've just texted the number, probably, regardless and this outburst of emotion was a bit unnecessary.

"Well, since it is your number, I guess we can be friends!" Kayla spoke with excitement. "I best be off! I'm late for meeting my friends." She starts walking towards the door.

"I have a question, though!" You rush. She stops, and waits for your question patiently. "Would you like to go, on a date or something?" You wonder if this is soon or-

"Sure! I think that would be fun. I mean, I'm sure you could come with me to see my friends, If that's possible." She motioned towards the establishment.

You look at Jade, pleadingly who nods. "I can call Jake. Go ahead, have fun on your _date,_ Karkat!" You thank her, and take off the apron that you are forced to wear. You put it back in it's cubby, and grabbed your jacket.

"I hope that it's not weird that I intrude into your friend group." You say, nervous about meeting new people.

"It's fine, Karkat. I'll just have to explain to them why I'm fifteen minutes late with Starbucks." She grabs your hand, and you respond to this action by blushing. "And with a hand to hold."


End file.
